1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to telecommunications, and, more particularly, to wireless communications.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of wireless telecommunications, such as cellular telephony, a system typically includes a plurality of Node Bs (e.g., base stations) distributed within an area to be serviced by the system. Various users within the area, fixed or mobile, may then access the system and, thus, other interconnected telecommunications systems, via one or more of the Node Bs. Typically, a UE (e.g., a user) maintains communications with the system as the user passes through an area by communicating with one and then another Node B, as the user moves. The user may communicate with the closest Node B, the Node B with the strongest signal, the Node B with a capacity sufficient to accept communications, etc.
Commonly, each Node B is constructed to process a plurality of communications sessions with a plurality of users. In this way, the number of Node Bs may be limited while still providing communications capabilities to a large number of substantially simultaneous users.
In at least some modes of operation, the Node B schedules each of the UEs to transmit information to the Node B within their own preselected time frame. Scheduling the UEs to transmit at a preselected time will not, however, result in each UE transmitting at precisely the desired time where the operations of the UE and the Node B are mistimed or misaligned relative to each other.
Moreover, mistiming between various UEs may result in two or more UEs providing transmissions that, at least partially, overlap with one another. Overlapping transmissions are undesirable in that they may interfere with one another. In systems that are transmitting high-speed data, the interference arising from overlapping transmissions may degrade the signals sufficiently far to produce errors in the information, which will necessitate the information being resent. Resending information, of course, will slow the overall transfer rate, reducing high-speed operations to unacceptable levels.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing, the effects of one or more of the problems set forth above.